Revenant

So I love to fish, and I compete in a lot of fishing tournaments. The past few years I've been fishing tournaments on a more national level, traveling to different states and so forth. In doing so, I've met a lot of other fishermen along the way, some in person, others online.

One of those anglers is a guy named Henry Veggian.

His name always struck me as familiar, but I never knew why. He's an English professor down in North Carolina, but he's also a metal fan, used to be a guitar tech for Clutch, etc. We've talked a bit about that before.

Anyway, like I said, his name has always seemed familiar. While I was sitting at my desk writing the other day, listening to music, "Spawn" by Revenant came on. Just one randomly shuffled song out of the 16,981 albums I have ripped. As soon as it started to play, that typically dark light bulb went on above my head.

Henry Veggian. This guy on vocals/guitar...



Couldn't be him, right? Well, turns out, it is! How crazy is that? He looks nothing like that anymore, of course. Haha.



Pretty wild, though, huh? Small world and all that. I've had Prophecies of a Dying World since high school!

Cool story Eyesore! It's crazy how things come about.

Revenant were local New Jersey legends!

My brother is/was a big fan, he and "Veg" were buds. He still has all their early demos/7-inches and other stuff. My bro saw them live dozens of times and I saw them once or twice back then, too. They were pretty much the go-to local openers for every thrash or death metal band that came thru our area.

Whoa! Yeah, definitely a cult band there.

Great story. And meeting up like that - that's awesome.

Dude, that's such a cool story. I love hearing things like this.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Revenant were local New Jersey legends!

My brother is/was a big fan, he and "Veg" were buds. He still has all their early demos/7-inches and other stuff. My bro saw them live dozens of times and I saw them once or twice back then, too. They were pretty much the go-to local openers for every thrash or death metal band that came thru our area.

Nice! Not surprising, then, that Chris Milnes from Mucky Pup is the one who told me to check them out, huh?

Eyesore wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Revenant were local New Jersey legends!

My brother is/was a big fan, he and "Veg" were buds. He still has all their early demos/7-inches and other stuff. My bro saw them live dozens of times and I saw them once or twice back then, too. They were pretty much the go-to local openers for every thrash or death metal band that came thru our area.

Nice! Not surprising, then, that Chris Milnes from Mucky Pup is the one who told me to check them out, huh?

Oh yeah, I'm sure Revenant and Mucky Pup played on more than a few club bills together back then, haha. New Jersey had a pretty good original "scene" at that time, especially for the more "extreme" side of things (thrash, death metal, hardcore, etc.).   

My brother met Henry thru his high school friend Ralph, who played drums for a local grindcore band called "Regurgitation" (they later became known as Old Lady Drivers, aka OLD). Henry played on Regurgitation's Bathrooms Rule! demo, then he split and formed Revenant.

Future Incantation guitarist/leader John McEntee was a member of Revenant early on, but by the time they got a record deal he had already left to form his own band. Last I checked, Incantation is still out there recording and touring to this day.

I assume a lot of those gigs had Hades on them too.

Temple of Blood wrote:

I assume a lot of those gigs had Hades on them too.

Possibly but if memory serves, by the time Revenant/Ripping Corpse/Incantation/etc. were doing their thing, Hades was on hiatus.

Alan Tecchio did the Control and Resistance record with WatchTower (I have vague memories of them playing a local club after that album came out, but I was not in attendance) and when that ended and he came back to Jersey, he and Dan Lorenzo did Non-Fiction for a couple of (boring) albums.

...but even when Non-Fiction was active, Hades would still do "reunion" gigs once or twice a year... but I didn't get to see them live till 2000 when they were back full time and doing albums again for Metal Blade. I was too young to get into the clubs during their first "era."

I saw Mucky Pup a million times back in the day. Now I wonder if Revenant ever played with them.

Eyesore wrote:

I saw Mucky Pup a million times back in the day. Now I wonder if Revenant ever played with them.

Looks like they did...

Fat Freddy wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

I saw Mucky Pup a million times back in the day. Now I wonder if Revenant ever played with them.

Looks like they did...

Not surprising. I meant up here, though. Guess they never did, not in MA.

I asked him about your brother, and he said, "Brian is the legend, not I." Then he changed the subject. I get the feeling that he doesn't like talking about his thrash metal days anymore. What he does now and what he did are worlds apart, so I guess I understand that.

Eyesore wrote:

I asked him about your brother, and he said, "Brian is the legend, not I."

I'll have to tell Brian that next time I talk to him.

Quote :

Then he changed the subject. I get the feeling that he doesn't like talking about his thrash metal days anymore. What he does now and what he did are worlds apart, so I guess I understand that.

Yeah, my brother is friends with Henry on FB too and he sez when they chit chat they don't really get into the "old days" much. I guess for Henry, it must be like when you look back at your high school yearbook photo, like "Geez, I was sooooo different then."

That said, I am sure he probably still gets his fair share of PM's from overseas fanboys asking him when he's gonna put the band back together, haha. ("INFERNAL HAILZ AND 666! WHEN IS REVENANT COME TO BRAZIL?")

Fat Freddy wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

I asked him about your brother, and he said, "Brian is the legend, not I."

I'll have to tell Brian that next time I talk to him.

Quote :

Then he changed the subject. I get the feeling that he doesn't like talking about his thrash metal days anymore. What he does now and what he did are worlds apart, so I guess I understand that.

Yeah, my brother is friends with Henry on FB too and he sez when they chit chat they don't really get into the "old days" much. I guess for Henry, it must be like when you look back at your high school yearbook photo, like "Geez, I was sooooo different then."

That said, I am sure he probably still gets his fair share of PM's from overseas fanboys asking him when he's gonna put the band back together, haha. ("INFERNAL HAILZ AND 666! WHEN IS REVENANT COME TO BRAZIL?")

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Dude, that's such a cool story. I love hearing things like this.

Yep.

Revenant honcho Henry Veggian reported via social media that the band's former drummer, Will Corcoran, who played on several of their demos and the Prophecies of a Dying World studio album, passed away this week. R.I.P.

https://metalstorm.net/events/news_comments.php?news_id=44717

Fat Freddy wrote:

Revenant honcho Henry Veggian reported via social media that the band's former drummer, Will Corcoran, who played on several of their demos and the Prophecies of a Dying World studio album, passed away this week. R.I.P.

https://metalstorm.net/events/news_comments.php?news_id=44717

Saw that. Feel bad for Hank. Sean Kilkenny from Mucky Pup, Dog Eat Dog, etc., just died recently. They were close. =(